Faculty

Anastassiya Karaban’s Research Funded by the Collaborative to Advance Equity through Research on Women and Girls of Color

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Third-year PhD student Anastassiya Karaban has received funding in support of her research. Her project, done in collaboration with Professor Jorge Agüero, is entitled “Female Education, Empowerment and Bargaining over Babies in Sub-Saharan Africa”.

The funding is through the Collaborative to Advance Equity through Research on Women and Girls of Color through Africana Studies at UConn:

“In November 2015, the White House Council on Women and Girls announced a new initiative on women and girls of color – the Collaborative to Advance Equity through Research on Women and Girls of Color—during a summit co-hosted by the Anna Julia Cooper Center at Wake Forest University. The Collaborative to Advance Equity through Research on Women and Girls of Color, which the University of Connecticut joined in 2015, consists of more than fifty colleges, universities and non-profit organizations committed to studying and addressing the educational, health and social services disparities faced by women and girls of color. Housed within the Africana Studies Institute, UConn’s Collaborative aligns with Africana’s goals to prioritize research and collaboration that target health disparities and injustice and the health and well-being of populations both racialized and gendered.”

https://africana.uconn.edu/collaborative-call-for-proposals-2022/

 

Professor Zhao published in Review of Economic Dynamics

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Professor Zhao’s paper “The Evolution of Health over the Life Cycle” has been published in the Review of Economic Dynamics.

In this paper, Professor Zhao and his coauthors construct a unified objective measure of health status: the frailty index. Using this index, they propose and estimate a stochastic process for health dynamics over the life cycle accounting for mortality bias. Their health measure and dynamic process can be used to study the evolution of health over the life cycle and its economic implications.

Building on this work, Professor Zhao and his coauthors are currently working on a project that explores the evolution of health inequality over the life cycle and its implication for lifetime earnings inequality.

Professor Agüero has a Top 10 Most Cited Paper in World Development

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Professor Jorge Agüero’s paper “COVID-19 and The Rise of Intimate Partner Violence” is now a Top 10 most cited paper in World Development, considering all publications since 2018.

The paper may be found online at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.105217

The abstract is below:

Title: COVID-19 and The Rise of Intimate Partner Violence

Abstract: Stay-at-home policies have been implemented worldwide to reduce the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. However, there is a growing concern that such policies could increase violence against women. We find evidence in support of this critical concern. We focus on Peru, a country that imposed a strict nationwide lockdown starting in mid-March and where nearly 60% of women already experienced violence before COVID-19. Using administrative data on phone calls to the helpline for domestic violence (Línea 100), we find that the incidence rate of the calls increased by 48 percent between April and July 2020, with effects increasing over time. The rise in calls is found across all states and it is not driven by baseline characteristics, including previous prevalence of violence against women. These findings create the need to identify policies to mitigate the negative impact of stay-at-home orders on women’s safety.

Professor Smirnova receives CLAS Broader Impacts, Service, and Visibility Award 2022

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During the 2019-2021 academic year, the College undertook a collaborative strategic planning process. Among other things, the resulting plan articulated four overarching goals for the College to work toward in the coming years. The Strategic Goal Awards recognize recognize the efforts of faculty members in these areas:

  • Climate, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award
  • Innovative Scholarship Award
  • Teaching, Learning, and Student Success Award
  • Broader Impacts, Service, and Visibility Award

Dr. Smirnova has received the 2022 Broader Impacts, Service, and Visibility Award.

This award is granted for “outstanding initiatives that visibly impact the welfare of Connecticut and beyond, including but not limited to facilitating community engagement, developing strong connections to government or nonprofit agencies, and/or leveraging alumni networks”.

As a faculty liaison of the Early College Experience – Economics program, Dr. Smirnova oversees course comparability, academic programming, and professional development and evaluation of the UConn ECE instructors teaching ECON 1000, ECON 1201, ECON 1202 in high schools. The ECE Economics program is an important component of department’s academic outreach to the community, a part of the department’s recruitment strategy, and an important way to connect our colleagues in high schools with the University. The ECE Economics program is the largest at UConn. It serves on average 55 instructors who offer 66 ECE economics courses annually.

The impact on students who take ECE Economics courses is many-fold. They get acquainted with the academic rigor of CLAS, gain familiarity with the University as a whole, and publicize the prominence of UConn across the nation and around the world when gaining acceptance to institutions of higher education.

The community impact of the ECE Economics program is immense. Our partner schools serve urban and rural communities, inner-city pupils, immigrant populations, and first generation students. As Dr. Smirnova helps the ECE instructors build their courses with rigor and innovation, all these groups have the opportunity to learn economics concepts, develop economics way of thinking, and get their first exposure to the college-level curriculum. This opportunity has a profound positive impact on learners and their communities.

Starting at the local community, the visibility of the University grows in the national and international arenas. After high school graduation, some students attend the University of Connecticut. They contribute to UConn’s diversity and bring knowledge gained in high school to UConn. Other students go to colleges and universities around the country and around the world. They contribute to the visibility of UConn by transferring UConn credits earned through the ECE program, by bringing the knowledge they gained, and by spreading the word about the ECE experience they have had. International students who attend ECE-partner private boarding schools bring the knowledge about the University of Connecticut to their home countries.

Congratulations, Dr. Smirnova!

 

Professor Segerson Elected to National Academy of Sciences

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Congratulations to Professor Kathleen Segerson, who has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences!

“Members are elected to the National Academy of Sciences in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. Membership is a widely accepted mark of excellence in science and is considered one of the highest honors that a scientist can receive. Current NAS membership totals approximately 2,400 members and 500 international members, of which approximately 190 have received Nobel prizes.”

“The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a private, non-profit society of distinguished scholars. Established by an Act of Congress, signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863, the NAS is charged with providing independent, objective advice to the nation on matters related to science and technology. Scientists are elected by their peers to membership in the NAS for outstanding contributions to research. The NAS is committed to furthering science in America, and its members are active contributors to the international scientific community. Approximately 500 current and deceased members of the NAS have won Nobel Prizes, and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, founded in 1914, is today one of the premier international journals publishing the results of original research.”

Information about the National Academy of Science and the newly elected 2022 members may be found online at: http://www.nasonline.org/

Professor Smirnova receives Career Champion Spotlight

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The Center for Career Development features Professor Natalia Smirnova with their Career Champion Spotlight:

“The Career Champion Spotlight for May 2022 is Dr. Natalia V. Smirnova. Dr. Smirnova is an assistant professor in residence at the Stamford campus of UConn. She received her Ph.D. in Economics from UConn in 2004 and now teaches in the field of Economics, including courses like Principles of Microeconomics, Principles of Macroeconomics, and Financial Economics. She also teaches upper-level field courses in Economics. Her teaching approach is to focus on how economics is relevant to everyday decisions and to engage students in real-world applications and data-driven explorations.”

Read the full post online at:

https://career.uconn.edu/blog/2022/04/28/career-champion-may-spotlight-blog-natalia-smirnova/

Spring 2022 Awards

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Uconn sealWhile the department is not able to celebrate with an awards banquet this year, we still are able to recognize the best among undergraduate and graduate students, as well as faculty!

This year’s award recipients are:

Undergraduate Awards

Economics Department General Scholarship

Shuo Han
Samuel Jackson
Tamara Shelley
Grace Smith
Khoa Tran
Yinuo Xiang
Ziyun Zhou

Kathryn A. Cassidy Economics Scholarship

Nidhi Nair
SeSe Nguyen

Rockwood Q. P. Chin Scholarship

Nadine Fernando
Prasad Gosavi
Pin Lyi
Choyang Wang

Louis D. Traurig Scholarship

Adem Aksoy
Allen Cazeau
Jeremy Salyer
Benjamin Scudder

Paul N. Taylor Memorial Prize

Erin McKeehan

Julia & Harold Fenton and Yolanda & Augustine Sineti Scholarship

Shuyi Bian

Charles Triano Scholarship

John Doran
Beatrix Jordan

Dr. Joseph W. McAnneny Jr. Scholarship

Erik Choi
Ryan Durrel
Gregory Elmokian
Kevin Gabree
Prabhas KC
Joshua Waxman
Justin Wu

Albert E. Waugh Scholarship

Annaliesa Wood

Ross Mayer Scholarship

Cole Ensinger
Jordan Leonardi


Graduate Awards

W. Harrison Carter Award

Ruohan Huang
Ziyun Wu

Abraham Ribicoff Graduate Fellowship

Lindsey Buck

Timothy A. and Beverly C. Holt Economics Fellowship

Matthew Brown
Shangyue Jiang
Keuncheol Lee
Kunze Li
Lulin Li
Ghania Shuaib
Sirui Qiu
Zhengxuan Wu

Economics Department General Scholarship

Anastassiya Karaban

Best Third Year Paper Award

Jiaqi Wang

Graduate School Pre-Doctoral Fellowship

Sirui Qiu
Zhengxuan Wu
Heshan Zhang

CLAS Summer Fellowship

Erdal Asker
Matthew Brown
Jingyun Chen
Jinsoon Cho
Zhenhao Gong
Shangyue Jiang
Keuncheol Lee
Lulin Li
Yizhi Zhu


Faculty Awards

Grillo Family Research Award

Delia Furtado
Subhash Ray

Grillo Family Teaching Award

Mike Shor

 

Congratulations to everyone!

Frontiers in Undergraduate Research 2022 at Storrs

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Griffin O'Neill PosterGriffin O’Neill, a senior with a double major in Economics and Geography, presented a poster visualizing data on the topic of National Football League (NFL) Attendance and Anthem Protests in 2016.

Using the ArcGIS, software, Griffin plotted a base map representing the Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area (SMSA) of each NFL stadium and the change in home game attendance between the 2015 and 2016 seasons. Then in separate maps he overlaid on the base map the number of player anthem protests for each team, the number of police shootings of unarmed black men in the SMSA of the home team, and voting results in the 2016 Presidential election in the counties comprising the SMSA of the home team.

The poster was part of an independent study project conducted with Prof. Oskar Harmon.

Brookings Event on Immigration and Care for Aging Baby Boomers

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On Tuesday, April 19th , Professor Furtado will participate in a webinar, “Who will care for aging baby boomers? Immigrants,” organized by the Center on Children and Families at Brookings. She will discuss her research on the relationship between immigrant labor and the quality of care provided in nursing homes.  Others will discuss how immigrants make it easier for the elderly to “age-in-place” and for the children of elderly parents to remain in the labor force.

After the presentations, a panel of immigration and health care experts will discuss the country’s caregiving needs and policies that can help address them.

If you are interested in participating, register here. During the live event, viewers can submit questions via email to events@brookings.edu or on Twitter using #FutureofCaregiving.

Graphic for 'Who Will Care for Aging Baby Boomers?' Event

Frontiers in Undergraduate Research 2022 at Stamford

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Stamford Frontiers in Undergraduate Research PosterThis year, marking the 25th anniversary of the Frontiers in Undergraduate Research Program at UConn, the Stamford campus had the first inaugural Frontiers event on April 12. The Frontiers program creates a culture of inquiry and engagement and enriches the undergraduate experience of our students.

At Stamford, students’ presentations were in-person and guests from the local community were invited. Twelve Stamford students from various disciplines delivered results of eight diverse research projects they have undertaken during this academic year.

Dr. Smirnova’s student, Matthew Gilshteyn, presented his research entitled “How Will Infrastructure Act Impact Nuclear Energy Production Costs?”, which stems from his work in ECON 3431W – “Public Economics” class. In his paper, Matthew conducted regression analysis on the data from U.S. Department of Energy and Nuclear Energy Institute and using the regression equation estimated the costs of nuclear energy production for 2022 and 2023. Matthew concluded that the Infrastructure Act’s allocation of resources towards alternative energy will decrease the cost of nuclear energy production by 8.2% by 2023. During the Frontiers event, Matthew answered questions from the audience and defended the nuclear energy as the safest energy source compared with other sources.

This year, the “posters” that students developed were in the electronic format and were projected on a big screen at the Welcome Center Atrium at the Stamford campus. Those posters will now be shown till the end of the semester on the monitors in the Concourse rotating among all eight projects.

The inaugural Frontiers event at the Stamford campus showcased the diversity of talent of our students and the continuing effort of the faculty to strengthen the undergraduate research program.

Thank you to the Office of Undergraduate Research and the Honors Program for organizing this beneficial event at the Stamford campus.

Smirnova and Gilshteyn at Frontiers in Undergraduate Research EventPhoto: Dr. Smirnova (left) and Matthew Gilshteyn at the Frontiers in Undergraduate Research event in Stamford, April 12, 2022.